'Perilous Play, and, Lost in a Pyramid or The Mummy's Curse'

Try These Bonbons...
A review of 'Perilous Play, and, Lost in a Pyramid or The Mummy's Curse' by Louisa May Alcott

These stories are a good, gentle introduction to the works of author, Louisa May Alcott (best known for 'Little Women'). Alcott can be a little hard-going for the uninitiated, but 'Perilous Play' and 'Lost in a Pyramid' are mercifully short while also full of the most wonderful 19th. century language, showcasing the very best of Alcott's literary style. We begin with 'Perilous Play', an engaging story about a group of young socialites who try some 'special' bonbons, infused with hashish. Two of the characters, 'Done' and "a very thorny" 'Rose', go on a short but dramatic sailing adventure under the influence of the bonbons. Interestingly, their travails seem to have a very loose parallel with the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia, except that Alcott, something of a feminist, has Rose save the day and rescue the latter-day 'Hamlet' from his blinding, drug-addled madness.

I like all things Ancient Egypt, so I also enjoyed 'Lost in a Pyramid'. This story, one of Alcott's last published thrillers, is typical of her: a weak narrative, but superb descriptive writing and a poignant, Romanticist ending. Its fervid, sensationalist theme presages some of the later, better-known thriller writing from the likes of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle and Bram Stoker. With its thesis concerning the perils of empirical knowledge and temptation, 'Lost in a Pyramid' reminds me vaguely of the Book of Genesis, particularly Adam and Eve, but more superficially, I suppose this (and 'Perilous Play') could also be seen as an exploration of the impact of drugs, both positive and negative, on the consciousness. Alcott was a complex person with a familial background in East Coast transcendentalism and a very 19th. century attitude to 'magical brews'. Both influences seem to permeate her writing and career as a writer, and these stories are no exception. She unquestionably did use drugs - particularly hashish, which was more acceptable in her time than opium - and she might well have been an affected drug abuser, but at the same time she publicly condemned drugs, especially opium.

T. T. Rogers